Real Estate Prices in a Post-Rapture World

I recently blogged here about Harold Camping’s prediction that May 21, 2011 would be the Rapture. Though last Sunday came and went as normal, it is interesting to contemplate what the impact of the Rapture would have on real estate prices.

In a post-Rapture world, it seems more likely than not that the rental/mortgage structure would resemble the current rental/mortgage structure. However, since the population would have dropped due to people ascending to heaven (estimates for exactly how many people will ascend range from 144,000 to about fifty percent of the world’s population), real estate prices would most likely drop.

Though a post-rapture world would likely witness changes in both rural and urban real estate prices, it seems that urbanization would accelerate as those left behind would likely draw together for support. “However, even if everything else stays the same, one thing is clear: The Rapture would have an apocalyptic effect on real estate.”

Bruce Watson, What Would the Rapture Do to Real Estate Prices?, Daily Finance, May 24, 2011.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this article to my attention.